Malaysia has 81 Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects to date to help cut greenhouse gases, the highest number in Southeast Asia, Deputy Natural Resources and Environment Minister Tan Sri Joseph Kurup said on Wednesday.
The CDM mechanism under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, would allow net global greenhouse gas emissions to be reduced at a much lower global cost with industralised countries financing emission reduction projects in developing countries where the cost was lower, he said.
“It will benefit us in terms of technology transfer,” Joseph said in opening the Waste Management Conference and Exhibition 2010, here Wednesday.
The ministry is the designated national authority for CDM in Malaysia which aimed to enable developing countries to leapfrog outdated technologies and achieve sustainable development cost effectively.
The two-day conference themed “1Green Malaysia” is organised by the non-government organisation, Environmental Management and Research Association of Malaysia (Ensearch).
Also present were Environment Department director-general Datuk Rosnani Ibarahim (repeat Ibarahim) and Ensearch president Peter Ho Yueh Chuen.
Ministry deputy under secretary for environment conservation Dr Gary W.Theseira, in his presentation at the conference, said the government aimed to increase energy efficiency by three percent and step up renewable energy and waste management to meet the goal of cutting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 40 per cent by 2020.
The improvement in Energy Efficiency (EE) was expected to remove nine million tonnes of CO2 while renewable energy was anticipated to reduce 11 million tonnes and the waste management sector would cut 10 million tonnes.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced Malaysia was adopting a voluntary reduction of up to 40 per cent of emission from 2005 levels at the Climate Change Conference in Cophenhagen last year subject to assistance from developed countries.
